Whitney's Rodrigues Commits To Oregon

Jagada Chambers/Courtesy of The Oakdale LeaderWhitney sophomore quarterback Jake Rodrigues will play his first league game at the varsity level on Friday in Lincoln.

Whitney High School quarterback Jake Rodrigues, rated as one of the top quarterbacks in the nation heading into the 2011 football season, has verbally committed to play in 2012 at the University of Oregon.
Considered a mid-level college prospect entering this winter, Rodrigues shined at a quarterback camp on the Stanford campus earlier this month, leading to a flood of new scholarship offers. He chose the Ducks during a campus visit Friday, over the likes of Nebraska, Michigan and Tennessee nationally, along with Pac-12 Conference rivals Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, Utah and Washington.
“I talked with coach (Chip) Kelly and he said I was their No. 1 guy and they were mine, so it worked out perfectly,” Rodrigues told Scout.com, which first reported his decision.
As a 6-foot-3, 215-pound junior at Whitney High last fall, Rodrigues was named his league’s MVP after throwing for 2,039 yards and 21 touchdowns and rushing for 1,300 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Whitney coach Mike Giminez, who helped guide Rodrigues through the recruiting process noted that he thought the Dukcs would be a good fit for the Wildcat quarterback.
“Oregon did a great job of recruiting Jake,” said Giminez. “We run a lot of the same stuff they do so I think he’ll fit in fine up there.”
Earlier this month, he attended a regional Elite 11 quarterback camp at Stanford, from which participants could be picked for the prestigious national camp of the same name. Rodrigues opened the eyes of both college coaches and the camp’s staffers with his performance.
“I watched his film and seeing him in person, he’s a very impressive player,” camp coach and former Super Bowl winning quarterback Trent Dilfer told ESPN.com.
“He’s what you’re looking for and has a great chance to not only make the final Elite 11 but be the best player at that camp.”
Rodrigues has said he intends to graduate from high school in December and enroll in college in January, the same schedule current UO starting quarterback Darron Thomas chose as a high school senior.
(ESPN.Com and The Eugene Register-Guard also contributed to this report)